Exclusive excerpt: ‘Her Secret’ by Shelley Shepard Gray

Exclusive excerpt: ‘Her Secret’ by Shelley Shepard Gray

HEA shares an excerpt from Her Secret, first in the new series The Amish of Hart County by Shelley Shepard Gray, arriving tomorrow.

About the book:

New York Times and USA TODAY bestselling author Shelley Shepard Gray begins a new series—The Amish of Hart County—with this suspenseful tale of a young Amish woman who is forced to move to a new town to escape a threatening stalker.

After a stalker went too far, Hannah Hilty and her family had no choice but to leave the bustling Amish community where she grew up. Now she’s getting a fresh start in Hart County, Kentucky…if only she wasn’t too scared to take it. Hannah has become afraid to trust anyone—even Isaac, the friendly Amish man who lives next door. She wonders if she’ll ever return to the trusting, easy-going woman she once was.

For Isaac Troyer, the beautiful girl he teasingly called “The Recluse” confuses him like no other. When he learns of her past, he knows he’s misjudged her. However, he also understands the importance of being grateful for God’s gifts, and wonders if they will ever have anything in common. But as Hannah and Isaac slowly grow closer, they realize that there’s always more to someone than meets the eye.

Just as Hannah is finally settling into her new life, and perhaps finding a new love, more secrets are revealed and tragedy strikes. Now Hannah must decide if she should run again or dare to fight for the future she has found in Hart County.

EXCERPT

Chapter 7

Monday evening, July 11

Taking a deep breath, Isaac knocked on the front door of the Hiltys’ home and prepared himself to spend the next thirty minutes feeling worse than dirt.

After Mrs. Hilty answered the door and looked at him curiously instead of asking him in, he knew his expectations were right. “Isaac, may I help you with something?”

He folded his hands behind his back. “I was wondering if I might be able to talk to Hannah for a few moments.”

“Hannah?”

She looked so surprised, he now felt even more ill at ease. Either Hannah never got visitors or she had mentioned his insensitive remarks.

“Jah.” Hating how his voice squeaked, he cleared his throat. “I mean, yes, I came to pay her a call. Is she here?”

“She is.” She smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I guess I didn’t expect for her to be receiving any callers. Come in and sit down in the living room.”

Now this was worse than bad. Mrs. Hilty was getting the completely wrong impression of why he’d shown up. He didn’t dare correct her, though. The last thing he wanted to do was embarrass Hannah.

Entering the small room that only held a small couch, two chairs, and two side tables, Mrs. Hilty said, “I’ll go tell Hannah you are here. I’ll be right back.”

“Thank you.”

When he was alone, he took a better look around the room. The furniture seemed new and it was well made. Not cheap by any standard. That surprised him. Their house was nice enough, but on the small side. He’d gotten the impression from Ben that they didn’t have a lot of extra money. Not for furniture like he was sitting on. Though it didn’t matter to him if they had money or not, he realized that he’d made yet another quick assumption about Hannah and her family.

When he looked toward the hall to see if Mrs. Hilty was on her way back, he was startled to spy Hannah walking toward him.

Today, she had on a light-green dress with long sleeves. Everything about her looked serene and calm. Except for her eyes. They looked as turbulent and troubled as he’d ever seen them.

“Hi, Isaac,” she said hesitantly. “My mother said you wanted to speak to me?”

“Jah.” Realizing that she was standing while he was still sitting, he got to his feet. “Want to sit down?” he asked, knowing he sounded as awkward as he felt. When she didn’t move, he rushed on. “This won’t take long.”

“All right.” At last she sat, but she didn’t even bother to hide her feelings. It looked like she would rather be anywhere else.

He didn’t blame her; he knew the feeling.

“Well?” she prodded.

“I wanted to apologize to you for how I acted the other day.” Looking at her earnestly, he continued. “I sounded like a jerk and I should have been more welcoming. Definitely more understanding.”

“Understanding?”

“Jah. On account of all you’ve been through.”

Her eyes narrowed. “What, exactly, have I been through?”

That lump appeared back in his throat. Somehow, he’d just made a mess of things. “Well, you know,” he said weakly. How, exactly, was he supposed to mention something that she probably hadn’t wanted to talk about in the first place?

“Nee. I’m afraid I do not.”

How was he to handle this now? Feeling like he was in the middle of a train wreck, but seeing no other way to go, he kept talking. “I talked to your brother the other day. When he was over at our house. With Samuel. I mean Sam.”

“Yes?”

“And he told us about why your family moved here. The real reason.” When she stared at him, her expression carefully blank, he took a deep breath. This was awful! “You know.”

She exhaled. “You mean because an Englisher was stalking me? Taking pictures of me?” Her voice turned sharper. “How it’s my fault we had to move because he was lurking outside our house and taking photographs of me through my bedroom window?”

He’d felt sorry for her, but now he was shocked. “I didn’t know all that.”

“Did he tell you what you needed to know? Or maybe there are other details you are curious about?”

“Nee—” He was mentally squirming now. If only there was a way to start this conversation again!

Hands clasped in her lap, she spoke quietly. “Danke for coming over. I appreciate your apology. You may go now.”

Maybe the right thing to do would be to leave. But he couldn’t.

Hannah Hilty wasn’t a stranger. She wasn’t someone he might never see again. She was his neighbor, and he wanted to one day be her friend. She’d also been through too much to only know the worst of him.

He felt bad. He also felt a little irritated. After all, people misspoke all the time. Couldn’t she try to be even a little bit more understanding? “Look, I know I made a mistake. But I came over here to do the right thing. I came over to apologize.”

“And you wanted to do that because of my past.”

“No, because it was the right thing to do,” he countered. Getting to his feet, he said, “I know I could have handled things better.”

When he saw that her expression hadn’t changed, he started pacing. “Maybe I should have never mentioned what your brother said. Maybe I should have pretended that I didn’t know about your past. Maybe that would have been better. That said, I, well, I think you are making a real mistake by refusing to listen to me.” When he saw her mutinous expression flicker, he added, “I’m not perfect, but I’m sure not as bad as you are making me out to be.”

Just as he started to turn to cross the room again, Hannah got to her feet.

“Isaac, stop, please.”

He did as she asked but didn’t turn around. It was probably wrong, but he didn’t want to see even more hurt and accusation shining in her eyes.

“You’re right,” she said. “You came over here to make amends and I’ve been nothing but judgmental and rude. I’m sorry that I’ve been so mean.”

When he turned to face her, he saw true remorse etched in her features. “It’s okay.”

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me,” she stated, looking like she was as confused as he felt. “I seem to be a different person than I was before. I used to be happier, carefree. Braver, maybe.”

“What happened changed you.”

“Jah. It did. I had thought a new place, new people, a new life would make the memories easier to handle, but the opposite is true. Now I can’t help but dwell on the memories. I don’t have anything to take the place of them.”

He noticed again how pretty she was. Dark hair, unusual light-hazel eyes. A straight, finely crafted nose. High cheekbones. She had an almost exotic look to her, so different than most of the Amish girls’ looks that he was familiar with. He realized why he was reacting so strongly to her. He thought she was beautiful.

And now that he knew a small part of her history, he felt protective over her, too. He wanted to help her. He wanted to be someone she could trust, to depend on.

It didn’t make sense, but he’d learned years ago that few things did. Their lives were in the Lord’s hands, after all.

“I didn’t just come over here to apologize. I also wanted to tell you about a charity event that a group of people our age is putting together. It’s a sandwich sale.”

Her eyes brightened. “Really? Those sales are fun.”

He smiled back, glad they had done those types of fund-raising back in Berlin, too. “They’re real popular in Hart County. People bring ham and turkey, cheese, pickles, and other sandwich fixings, and get together to make dozens of sandwiches.” One time, he remembered, his mother made over a hundred to help a family whose barn had been lost in a tornado.

“What are people making sandwiches for?” Hannah asked.

“Darryl and Mercy Gingerich. Their new baby was born with a heart defect. She needs surgery.” Feeling better now that he was talking about something he felt more comfortable with, he added, “There’s going to be about a dozen of us working on this, most of them our age. We’re going to sell not only sandwiches but bags of chips, homemade pies and whoopee pies, and jars of freshly brewed tea and lemonade.” He paused, giving her a moment to absorb everything he’d said. “Will you join us?”

She opened her mouth, seemed to hesitate, then nodded. “That sounds like a lot of fun. Danke.”

“I’m glad.”

Hannah smiled slightly. “You are right, Isaac. The best cure for dwelling on bad memories is to make some new ones. Working on a sandwich sale sounds like great fun. Thank you for asking me.”

“Our first meeting is in two days, on Wednesday. Are you free? Will you go there with me?”

“Jah. I will.”

When he met her eyes, he couldn’t resist smiling. Especially when she smiled right back.